HYDERABAD: AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi on Friday alleged that the three accused in the murder of UP gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf were part of a larger terror module which was inspired by Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse. He questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath why the accused were not booked under Sections of Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).
Addressing the “Jalsa Youm-ul-Quran” at the Mecca Masjid on the last Friday of Ramzan, Owaisi questioned how the accused, who were apparently living in below the poverty line conditions, could get their hands on automatic weapons worth Rs 16 lakh. Referring to the observations of experts, he said that the way the accused fired shots at the victims, it was clear that they might have been trained for at least a month before the murders.
“These terrorists who belong to a terror cell are the successors of Nathuram Godse. Who gave them the weapons? If you don’t stop this now, they will continue to perpetrate such murders. These people will make the country hollow,” he said. Referring to the acquittal of 67 accused in the 2002 Naroda Gam riots case in the trial court, Owaisi questioned whether the Prime Minister will appeal the verdict in the Supreme Court. “Sixteen years have passed since the Mecca Masjid bomb blast took place. Five people died in the blast and nine were killed in the police firing. The court has acquitted Aseemanand and five other accused. Modi didn’t appeal it in the higher courts. You talk about Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas, but there will be no insaf (justice) done by you,” the MP said.
Owaisi demanded the BRS government to release the report of the Bhaskar Rao Commission, which was constituted after the Mecca Masjid bomb blast. Pointing out that Gupta and Joshi, who were accused in the Mecca Masjid bomb blast case and were also convicted in the Ajmer Dargah blast case, were released by the Rajasthan government on parole, they were welcomed by 10,000 people when they returned to Gujarat.
“Whether it was the Maliana massacre in 1987 when 70 Muslims died, or the Naroda murders, everybody has been acquitted. Did the killers come from the skies, killed innocent people and went away? When in the name of religion they are targeting people, what is the truth and what is a lie,” he sought to know.
Owaisi also lashed out at former J&K Governor Satyapal Malik for stating in a television interview that his advice to the PM after the Pulwama attack that soldiers needed to be flown in flights in sensitive areas was not taken. “They died because of Modi’s mistake. You could have resigned and exposed the security issue. But you waited till the BJP came to power. You only wanted to save your chair,” Owaisi charged.